Each school room contained desks for 45 students, and was equipped with countersunk ink wells, black boards, closets, and electric bells.

Six years after moving into its "new" Montgomery Street building the Academy adopted its school colors: navy blue and gold.

In 1926 construction began on a 7-acre (28,000 m2) lot at the corner of Fullerton Avenue and South Street for a million dollar building, which was to accommodate 1,500 students.

On January 23, 1928 the first classes were held in the present Newburgh Free Academy building, but it was not until March 1928 that the construction work was finally completed.

In 1936, WPA muralist Lee Woodward Zeigler was hired by the Board of Education to paint murals in either the auditorium or vestibule.

He favored the idea of possibly painting the Muses, but the Board of Education supported the depiction of a local historical scene or something more academic.

[5] Boston architect Ralph Adams Cram wrote to Zeigler and recommended that he create a set of murals to depict the progress of education in Western world, from the School of Athens to the College of William & Mary.

[5] He decided to paint two vertical murals, flanking the stage, featuring Renaissance figures meant to represent the dramatic arts and music.

To relieve the overcrowding Columbia University Teachers College recommended that two new junior high schools should be built in order to keep Newburgh up with the times.

In the early 1960s, as the baby boomer generation reached high school age, a major addition was built on the north side of the building along Roe Street.

Among the new features were a planetarium, laboratories for chemistry and physics, a greenhouse, mobile animal cabinets, a climatorium for weather measurements, courtyard and a 250-seat lecture room with a dividing wall.

[11] In more recent years, pupil enrollment numbers in the upper two thousands is not uncommon, yet Newburgh Free Academy is prided on still providing a quality education for each and every student, with class sizes ranging between four and thirty-five.

In 2004 NFA, and the school district as a whole, became the first K–12 educational system in New York State to deal with an employed district-wide administrator going through a gender transition while on the job.

[citation needed] Because of such resistance from the adults on campus, not generally the students, the school board paid this individual a hefty cash settlement (greater than $90,000) to resign.

NFA West is a Big Picture Learning (BPL) school that strives to be a place where students are known well, understood, respected and able to have genuine relationships with adults.

Each scholar's educational program involves authentic experiences with real world standards and consequences, and is designed by the people who know the student best.

Beginning in 2011, the high school was involved in a scandal concerning widespread class cutting and poor graduation rates among Newburgh Free Academy basketball players during their state championship in 2008–09 and the 2009–10 season.

[citation needed] Star players on the 2008–09 and 2009–10 teams told the Times Herald-Record they skipped classes as their coach and administrators looked the other way or actively covered for them.

[12] After the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, 11th grade students immediately organized to rally against gun violence.

An 11th grader approached school administrators to organize a Week of Awareness on topics including bullying, suicide prevention and gun violence.

[15] This was in response to President Donald Trump's tweets blaming mass shootings solely on poor mental health.

In the video, the student poked fun at comments people had made about him, a recurrent one being that his appearance and behavior likened that of a school shooter.

Days earlier, the coach had notified administration that the student was ineligible to attend a state track competition due to exceeding excused absences.

After notifying them, he checked Infinite Campus to find the student's attendance in excellent standing, contrary to its initial appearance.

On the morning of October 23, 2018, officers from the Orange County District Attorney arrived at the Board of Education and Newburgh Free Academy.

They served administration with a search warrant, seeking the district's attendance policies regarding academics and athletic participation.

One presented that student ID scanning machines had been broken for months and that teachers were subjected to dangerous working conditions.

In an interview with a news station, the student stated they had been bullied since elementary school for their sexuality[27] and were treated unjustly by administration.

[27] Failure to take action against bullying was a commonality that many parents in the school district shared, and the news interview was spread around social media.

James Skoufis was in contact with superintendent Roberto Padilla, who claimed parts of the grand jury's report of findings were untrue.